


Meeting Hades - Spin Off (1)

by Fede_Green



Series: Private Lessons [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, College, F/M, Father-son relationship development, M/M, Student!Nico, Teacher!Percy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 10:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5924686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fede_Green/pseuds/Fede_Green
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico is a college student now. Since Hades insisted quite a lot, the boy is going to introduce Percy to him.</p><p>As always, the situation gets complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting Hades - Spin Off (1)

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooo everybody! No one asked for it, but WHATEVER. Here it is the first spin off of the Private Lessons series *-*
> 
> 1) English is not my first language! I warn you all. I'm crap.  
> 2) High age difference. Don't like, don't read.

Trying to pull himself together while studying was a big challenge for Nico di Angelo. His dorm room looked like a nuclear explosion had just shattered the entire floor. And it wasn't even his fault. It was his roommate's fault. He perfectly remembered the first time he met him, the cause of all his troubles and untidiness.

It happened during his first week at New York University, almost two years ago now. Seven days completely devoted to freshmen. He took the photo for his student's identification card, he got tons of paper sheets about activities, events, courses and another million stuff. He even went to a seminary about sexual harassment at campus. Ignoring the last thing he did, he was excited. Sorely confused, but excited.

Then Nico got his room's key and a tiny – useless – map that apparently should have helped him to find said room. The girl who handed the key and the map over to him looked slightly pissed off by all those new students. He smiled to her anyway – receiving absolutely nothing in return - because Nico _was_ happy. He didn't give a shit, that was his moment. First week at college. _Insane_.

Despite everything that had happened to him that morning - like the guy he found crying on the bathroom floor and that he had to comfort, “ _It will be fine dear stranger, don't worry. We're all scared!_ ” - Nico managed to find his room. Fourth floor, room number 117. A tiny yellow post-it was attached to the door: “N.A. – G.U.”. He was pretty sure _N.A._ was him. Like, well. It would have been a great coincidence otherwise.

The boy entered the room and all his enthusiasm faltered. But just for a couple of seconds. It _was_ little – almost claustrophobic – but he decided to ignore the details. He closed the door behind him and smiled at himself, leaning his suitcase and bag near to a little desk stuck in the wall – yes, literally, _in the wall_ \- on his right.

Nico took a deep breath. “Okay. Here we are. What now?”

He glanced around himself and decided that emptying his suitcase could be a great program for the moment. He took the right half of the room for himself, leaving the left half to his unknown roommate. Nico was a bit scared. What if this _G.U._ boy was a freak or not friendly or whatever? He sucked at social interaction. He hoped that at least the other guy wasn't as shy as he was.

Oh, he was wrong. Painfully wrong.

Because G.U – Grover Underwood, he learned a few hours later – was not shy _at all_.

First of all he slammed the door open and made Nico almost faint from a heart attack. At the sight of Nico placing his books on a tiny shelf over the desk, the boy _screamed_. Literally.

“Eeeeehy mate! Are you my roommate? That's great, seriously, I'm Grover! Nice to meet you. Oh my God _yesss_ , we're gonna have fun together! I promise!”

And then he _hugged_ him. He hugged him tight. Without any warning.

Nico tried not to think about ' _all the signs that someone is harassing you sexually'_. Damn, that seminary traumatized him way too much. The boy hugging him was just an expansive person. It was not like all the people that touched him were trying to rape him.

He hoped at least.

When Grover – a tanned and tall boy with brown hair and chocolate eyes - began undoing his luggage, Nico understood it was going to be difficult. The skinny boy stared at him in worry while the other was literally throwing his possessions on the floor with no logic. He even noticed his roommate had almost more cans of beer than clothes.

Nico swallowed hard. He had found Leo's American reincarnation. And to live with him was going to be a nightmare. Funny, but still a nightmare.

As mentioned before, almost two years had passed since their first meeting. Nico got used to Grover's habits and craziness. It was not _that_ bad after all. Just slightly irritating at times. The boy was now trying really hard to fix in his head something about criminal law, due to the fact that he had an exam in a couple of weeks, but nothing seemed to be worth remembering.

Not with Grover colouring giant protest banners about global warming on the floor and constantly asking him for advices.

Nico rubbed his eyes and closed the book. The object was staring at him and he felt guilty. Just a second before he was going to open it again, his phone rang on the desk. The boy smiled widely with relief and grabbed it. A phone call from his boyfriend was all that he needed in that moment.

“Perce! How are you? What are you doing? I'm going nuts, talk to me!”

Grover rolled his eyes and kept drawing giant red exclamation marks.

The man laughed on the other side. “Babe. I'm fine, a bit tired, but fine. I just came back home and I'll spend the whole evening correcting essays. Isn't it extraordinary?”

Nico smiled. “Indeed.”

“Look, have you booked your flight for Friday? Do you need a ride from the airport?”

“I did, dad's gonna come. Don't worry. Are you anxious?” Nico chuckled a bit.

“... No, well. Yes. But just slightly. I mean, what if your family's going to hate me?”

The boy heard a dull sound of books falling on the ground and his boyfriend cursing. He laughed. “They won't hate you. You're clever and smart and amazingly beautiful. And sexy. They'll love you.”

“I hope your dad's not going to find me sexy.”

Nico laughed again and Grover stared at him sarcastically. That boy was irredeemably lovesick. “Mmh, yeah. That's just me. This is not even completely true, but whatever.”

“Would you stop mentioning Miss Herb asking me out on a date?”

“Never ever. You're gonna show me the face she did when you told her you are gay again, yes? Please, you know that I love it!”

Percy laughed loudly and scratched his neck in embarrassment. “As you want. Ehy, what about we-”

The man's question got interrupted by a weird noise from the other side. And a scream. Percy frowned and tried to listen.

“Grov, for fuck's sake, you stop doing this?! I almost got my foot cut! Make those scissors disappear from my sight!”

“Oh sorry princess, your obliviousness towards our planet's deterioration is really touching!”

“Oh _bloody fuck_ , I'm gonna kill you. Perce, I'll call you tonight. Is it all right?”

The man grinned at his boyfriend's exasperation. “Of course it is. Ehy, homicide is a crime. If I were you I'd think about it first.”

Nico tiredly smiled. “Yes, I'll be a lawyer. I know my business. And I know how to do it without any kind of trouble.”

The boy grinned and Grover widened his mouth in fake surprise. “You traitor!”

“Love you Perce...”

“I love you, babe.”

They both hung up.

** **

Friday arrived so soon that Nico literally began throwing random things in his suitcase. Too bad he didn't do it a day before, now he was ridiculously late. Grover kept looking at him the whole time, still in his bed and with his arms crossed under his head. He had a satisfied grin on his face, like he knew this was going to happen sooner or later. _Revenge. Now we're on the same boat._

“Look who's in deep shit. Good morning, sweet heart.”

Nico killed him with one of his famous frozen stares, a thing he learned from his father. Grover stopped smiling immediately.

“My flight is in two fucking hours, I'm gonna miss it. Shit, shit, shit.” The boy closed his luggage (not with a little effort) and jumped on the door, slamming it open.

“What about your ticket? You really think it is a good idea to leave it on your desk?” Grover smiled again.

The boy winced and let his suitcase fall on the floor. He took the ticket and showed his middle finger to the roommate. “Fuck you!”

“Bring me a souvenir!”

The door slammed closed.

** **

Hades di Angelo was reading a big panel full of weird names of localities he never heard of and others that were obviously well known, like Los Angeles or Austin. New York City was nowhere to be seen. Was it possible that the plane had already landed? Nico told him to wait for him at 4 pm. It was just a bit earlier, after all.

The words on the panel suddenly changed and finally his son's flight appeared. He was going to land in five minutes. The man smiled, he had missed Nico so much he couldn't believe it. Not that he was an uncaring father, but he knew his son was a pretty independent boy and didn't need him that much anymore. In his heart, Nico would have always been his little baby. He was just going to ignore the fact that his little baby was twenty years old and had a bank account on his own. Those were mere details.

Hades waited for Nico sitting on a chair in the Arrivals area. He hoped his son was going to find his luggage soon. After some minutes, the boy's figure appeared dragging a suitcase. Nico was smiling and waving at him.

“Nico! How are y-”

In a matter of an instant, the boy let go of everything he had in his hands and hugged his father. The man smiled widely and hugged him back, stroking his head fondly.

“Welcome back home, my young man.”

Nico smiled, his head resting on his father's chest.

** **

“And that's insane, believe me. Everyone is going crazy for finals. I'm the only one who's not stressed out at all in my group of friends.”

Nico smiled while listening to his sister and emptying his suitcase. He turned around to face her with a grin.

“That's because you're a Junior. Next year, you'll see. Brace yourself young lady, you have no idea.”

“Yes, that's what Frank says all the time... you know how he is, always sweet and reassuring. But when it comes to serious things like this one he gets just too... well, serious.”

Hazel sat on her brother's bed, followed by Nico. The boy had met his sister's boyfriend a year earlier. He had to admit Frank Zhang was a nice boy, caring and kind. The law that imposed him to be severe with his sister's lovers - there was a law, no arguing with a soon-to-be-lawyer – simply decayed.

Nico wrapped and arm around his sister's shoulder and brought her closer. The girl laid her head on Nico's collarbone and hugged him from his waist.

“Is Frank coming for dinner?”

“Dinner? When you'll finally introduce all of us to your mysterious boyfriend? Yes, he is.”

The boy grinned. His presence was a good thing, Hades seemed to really like the Canadian boy. He had Chinese origins, which gave him some original features like almond eyes and a pale skin colour. Nico really liked him too because when Frank was in the room it meant peace and tranquillity. A nice contrast with Hazel's vivacity.

Everything that could have calmed the waters was appreciated by Nico that evening. He sincerely had no idea of which reaction his family was going to have meeting Percy. Not to mention his sister's reaction. For a lucky coincidence – well, not really a coincidence since Hazel went to the same school of her brother – Mr. Jackson was also the girl's history teacher. And that dinner was going to be weird. Seriously weird.

Nico had already warned all his family that his boyfriend was... well, older than him. When Hades had asked him “ _how much older, exactly_?”, the boy had murmured something about “just a little decade, not much.” His father had paled on the spot.

Nico played his cards in a really good way, anyway. “Wasn't mum fifteen years younger than you?”

At those words, his step-mother – Persephone, she was called. A nice lady with the passion for botany. Like, whatever – winced and looked at her husband with a knowing smile.

Hades limited himself to just cough awkwardly. “All right then.”

Nico was waiting for the moment his father was going to find out that his boyfriend had also been one of his teachers. And this, _dear Lord_ , was going to be really embarrassing. No one in that house was stupid and sure as shit they could put two and two together, finding out they've been dating since Nico _was_ a high school student. Not to mention the fact that Hades had met the man at the parents and teachers' meetings several times.

The boy began panicking a little and got up from the mattress to distract himself. “Well, fine. Our boyfriends are coming soon, so I'll take a shower.”

Nico left the room with Hazel inside. The girl smiled, happy to have her brother back home, and laid on the mattress.

** **

The whole family, plus Frank, was comfortably sitting in the living room all together. Nico was dying of anxiety in his armchair, rhythmically beating his foot on the ground, while his dad was having an entertaining conversation with his sister's boyfriend. When their chat seemed to be finished – the boy couldn't tell, he wasn't paying attention – Hades turned towards him.

“Your boyfriend's late, isn't he?” The man drily smiled at his son.

“Five minutes dad... he's gonna arrive soon.”

Hades was about to say something when the doorbell rang. Nico got up immediately, as if someone had given him an electric shock. “I got it.”

He reached the front door at the end of the corridor and took a deep breath. When he opened it, Percy was smiling and holding a baking tin with one hand and a bottle of French wine in the other. Nico leaned forward to press a quick kiss on his lips.

“ _Thank God_ you arrived” he whispered to his ear. He then took Percy's cake and bottle from his hands to lean them on a tiny table near the entrance. Nico hung his boyfriend's coat and smiled at him. “Ready?”

The man looked at him with disappointment.

Without any warning, he literally grabbed Nico's waist and slammed him against the wall. Percy attacked his boyfriend's lips, his tongue deep inside Nico's mouth. The boy wrapped his arms around Percy's neck and kissed him with intense passion. When they parted, they were both panting.

“Now, I am ready.”

Nico nodded and grinned. He was still blushing when he took Percy's hand in his to escort him in the living room. Everyone turned their heads towards the couple when they entered the room.

Hazel, Frank and Hades' smiles began slowly fading away. Persephone was politely smiling at the man, finding him genuinely good looking. Nico swallowed hard. That was it. The damage was done. He could die now.

Frank was the first one to talk after some seconds of seriously awkward silence. He got up to shake Percy's hand.

“Mr. Jackson! It's really nice to see you outside of school.” He was smiling fondly, trying to make the tension disappear.

Percy shook his hand back vigorously and smiled back. “The pleasure is mine, Frank. Please, you can call me Percy.”

The boy nodded kindly and looked at his girlfriend, who was staring at him in shock. Hazel stood up and got rid of her surprised expression to shake her teacher's hand as well. “Yeah! I mean, it's really nice to have you here. Welcome in our house... mine and Nico's. And my father's and mom's and... whatever. The cat's, too. You'd fancy a glass of wine?”

She laughed awkwardly, but Percy appreciated her attempt to make things look normal. “Thank you, yes. You're kind.”

Hazel just smiled and nodded quickly directing herself towards the kitchen.

Nico decided that that was the time to speak. Because Percy was going to faint without any help from him. Like, ceremoniously passing out on the carpet.

“So... Dad, mom. This is Percy, my-”

“Teacher.” Hades whispered. His eyes were so dark that a twinge of terror crossed Nico's whole body. Persephone held her breath at her husband's words.

“Well, technically... he's not.”

“Can you please tell me again since when you're dating?”

“Dad, this is absolutely not relevant to-”

“Answer me right now.”

“This is not important since the fact-”

“Nico di Angelo, I asked you a precise thing! I am your father, you immediately give me an answer!”

Percy looked at them desperately, his eyes were moving back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. The man raised his hands to try and bring remedy to that situation. “Mr. di Angelo, I'm sorry for this inconvenient. I know it's a bit shocking but-”

“A _bit shocking_?” Hades was almost screaming at that point. Percy shut his mouth closed.

Hazel came back from the kitchen, almost running and holding a glass of red wine. She swallowed hard and reached for Frank, who was staring at the scene with intense worry.

A heavy and tense hush fell in the living room. Hades was livid. He was thinking about the fact that his son had told him he had been dating this boy – _man_ – since his high school's junior year. And Hades _could_ put two and two together. He was not just going to _ignore_ that fact.

“Nico. How old were you when you began seeing your teacher?”

A couple of minutes passed in complete silence before Nico could recollect his courage to answer to his father. “T-this is not what-”

“Nico.”

“Almost seventeen. Dad, it's _not_ like you think it is. It's just-”

“Illegal.”

“No! Oh my God, no! Listen, it was consensual. I started it!”

Percy winced at Nico's speech. Bad choice of words. Really bad, _bad_ choice. In fact Hades' face darkened even more. He approached Nico, just a few centimetres from his son's eyes. “ _Consensual_ , you say? Please, explain how this is making me feel better. What did _exactly_ happened?”

The teacher decided to intervene. He was not going to look at his boyfriend burying himself alive with his own words. The man had a bit more of diplomacy than Nico had. “Mr. di Angelo, I'm sorry to interrupt... but please let me talk. It was an unlucky coincidence, the time and the place and whatever you're thinking about, but your son and I really get along well together. I'm not going to talk about fate or destiny because you and I are men of a certain common sense, but it's not our fault if it happened the way it happened. It just did.”

Nico looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Well, that was impressive. Making his father shut his mouth was a big conquest already. He glanced at said man, who was struggling against the need to punch Percy in the face or try and talk to him. Hades turned around to face the other man and Persephone stood up from the couch, fearing the smell of a fight in the air. She put her hand on her husband's arm. “Dear. C'mon, take a deep breath. Calm down and let's have dinner.”

“I want the truth right now or nobody's gonna eat a thing tonight. Did you _have sex_ with a teenage boy? A teenage boy who was your student? Did you?”

Hazel brought both her hands on her mouth and Frank kept staring at the ground with genuine interest for the carpet. Nico leaned against the wall, his legs going weak.

Percy swallowed hard but never looked away from Hades. He soon decided it was not a great idea to fuck around with that man. Being honest could have been better than lying. Lawyers can smell lies better than other people, after all.

“I did.”

Persephone whispered something around the lines of “ _oh dear, oh dear_ ” and Nico felt his head go dizzy. Hades was still staring at his boyfriend with an illegible look. The man exhaled to try and pull himself together. He nodded slowly, his eyes reduced to a thin line.

“Let's eat, then.”

Hades left the room leaving his children, their boyfriends and his wife disconcerted.

Hazel laughed awkwardly. “Well, I suppose you don't want your wine anymore Mr. Jackson!”

Nico turned towards her, a look on his face that was saying _what the fuck is wrong with you?_

Percy approached her instead, grabbed the glass from her hand and drank the wine in one gulp. He gave it back to Hazel, who was staring at him and trying not to laugh. He smiled to the girl.

“Yes, let's eat.”

** **

Despite everything, at the table the situation was almost acceptable. Hades was trying really hard to hold his deep disappointment and avoided Percy's eyes the whole time, but it was better than nothing.

Thanks to Frank – dear Lord Frank existed – the conversation went well. They talked about a lot of stuff. Hazel kept asking her teacher a lot of questions about his family, questions Percy was pleased about. Nico began feeling slightly calm around the time of dessert. He stood up and reached for the cake that his sister had put near the stove.

“So... this is Percy's cake, I have no idea of what flavour is.”

Said man stood up to help him and began cutting the cake in slices. “It's lemon. With a bit of toasted coconut on the top.” He smiled.

Persephone looked really happy about it and asked Percy if he had made it himself.

“I did! I'm not bad at baking.”

Everyone smiled, except for Hades. Of course.

The man had to admit that, apart from the fact that Perseus Jackson had been Nico's teacher for four years, he was struggling really hard to find something else wrong with him. He was a smart man, obviously, intelligent and reasonable. Just like Hades was. He could talk about any topic with great ease. Having a simple chat with him, or a politics discussion, or listening to him while he explained how to bake a good lemon cake were the same things. It just came natural to him.

Hades sighed in defeat while he looked at his son fondly smiling towards his boyfriend, who was whispering something in his ear. Nico laughed a bit and kept eating his slice of cake.

The man couldn't find anything amiss. He had to accept their relationship soon or Nico was going to hate him again. He spent Nico's whole adolescence trying to create a contact between them and if he succeeded in his effort at the end, he probably should have thanked Percy for it. Because he was paying great attention while the teacher told Hazel about how his father had abandoned him and his mother when he was little. And about how much he had wanted to have a father by his side.

He could imagine Percy repeating those things to an angry teenage Nico, mad at his father for anything he said and did to him. Hades sighed again. He raised his look from his cake to look at the man on the other side of the table. When their eyes met, Percy knew they were going to figure that out. For Nico, the boy they both loved.

** **

When Nico opened the door of his dorm building with his student's card a week later, he already knew something was going insanely wrong. Students were running from here to there, others were drying their stuff with hair-dryers and fans. The floor was humid like it had just rained a bit.

That wasn't right. It couldn't rain _inside_ a building.

He approached a curly blond girl who was desperately trying to get her shoes dry. Nico knew her, they were attending the same course of construction law.

“Annabeth? What's going on?”

The girl raised her head towards him and snorted heavily. “You see all this?”

Nico nodded.

“Right. You know what it is? Fire prevention system. You wanna know who's fault is?”

The boy swallowed. He didn't want to know. 'Cause he already knew it.

“Your roommate”.

Actual pain crossed Nico's body. “Oh my God... how?”

“He burned all the approval documents for the new parking lot's project. In a trash can. In the common bathroom.”

Nico nodded in resignation. “Thanks Ann... see you tomorrow.”

The girl snorted and waved at him goodbye.

When Nico reached his floor and his room, he found it empty. A note was laying on his desk. He let go of his suitcase and grabbed the sheet of paper to read it.

“ _Look, there are people looking for me. Can't tell you where I am, but I'm fine! See you in a few days. PS. Sorry for the mess, didn't know the alarm could set off._ ”

Signed “Grov”.

The boy sighed and smiled a bit. At least the water didn't fall for so long. Changing the sheets should have been enough.

Suddenly his phone rang in his pocket. Nico grabbed it and answered without checking the screen. “Hello?”

“Nico, I'm dad. Have you arrived?”

“Yes, I'm in my room right now. Everything is fine... well, almost everything. What about you at home?”

“We're all okay.”

After a moment of silence Hades spoke again. “Listen, next time you come home you can invite your... boyfriend. Just wanted to tell you.”

Nico smiled and blushed a bit. “Great. Thanks dad... it means the world to me and to Percy.”

“Yeah. Well. Gotta go. I'll check on you tomorrow, okay? Good night.”

"Good night, dad.” Nico hung up and smiled again. His father was working on it. The boy knew it was going to be difficult. But difficult didn't mean impossible.

He sighed with relief and threw himself on his bed.

Just to wince seconds later and getting up again.

_Damn it._

_It was wet._

Nico took a self reminder: 'kill Grover next time you see him'. He shook his head in exasperation and began emptying his luggage.

FINE

**Author's Note:**

> *hides*  
> I'm sorry there's no smut in it *ehehe* maybe next time.  
> [tumblrlrlr](http://fedegreen-author.tumblr.com/)


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